1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a system and method for managing relationships with independent multi-dimensional grouping, individualized privileges and interactive feedback in a social network.
2. The Prior Art
A social network consists of individual and their relationships to other individuals. Individuals can have direct relationships with other individuals when they have established a formal direct connection. Individuals can also share an indirect relationship by virtue of sharing a common relationship with other individuals with whom they have a direct relationship or by virtue of sharing membership to a same group. When the number of users in a social network increases, the complexity of the social network and of identifying and tracking all relationships can grow exponentially.
In the past, prior to the internet, the telephone and mail were the main forms of communications. These previous forms of communications were slow and/or expensive, limiting the frequency of their use. In a mobile society where people could move across states, regions or even national boundaries, people could only keep a handful of connections when they moved forward in their lives and readily relocated. The internet has revolutionized social networking in two primary ways. First, it enables people to maintain old relationship with previous acquaintances, friends, and family. Second, it facilitates the development of new relations by reaching to people who would have been unreachable with previous forms of communications because of financial constraints or geographical limitations. The internet has allowed not only to expand their network exponentially but also to connect at quasi-instantaneous speeds at no cost unlike anything possible with other forms of communications.
Since the internet, many individuals use software solutions to store and manage their relationships with other individuals. Not surprisingly, the emergence of social networks and address book computerized solutions has led to a proliferation of newer and improved designs to tackle the ever-growing complexity of larger networks.
However, the social networking solutions that have been proposed have been imperfect in enabling users to manage these expanded and fast moving networks. In particular users have been proposed limited options to manage their information sharing, connections sharing, and levels of ‘intimacy’. Most notably, conventional networking solutions have been imperfect in empowering the users to share their information in ways they see best fit and to manage their connections according to their perceived or real levels of intimacy.
For instance, a user member of a social network may share various connections with different members at different degrees of intimacy. In particular a member may have a different level of intimacy with a family member, a classmate, a fellow commuter, a close friend, or a coworker. Accordingly, at the primary level a member user may want to group and organize his connections according to his/her perceived level of intimacy. On a secondary level, a user member may want to share his connections according to specific levels of preferences.